2017 Field of Mars Shiraz B1

Single Vineyard Range

2019 Eagles Rest Vineyard Chardonnay

Variety:   Chardonnay 100%

Vineyard: Eagles Rest Vineyard

Region:    Pokolbin, Hunter Valley

Vine Age:  Vines planted in 1970's by Don Maxwell

Tasting Note

Planted at 200m altitude on a Southern facing steep slope on deep red volcanic basalt soil, in the foothills of the Brokenback Mountain Range.

Colour: crystalline bright: a very youthful, fine chiffon yellow.

Aromas: primary fruits are yellow pineapple to bright nectarine with subtle hints of jasmine and fine oak, suggestions of pistachio and vanilla.

Palate: defines pineapple and stone-fruit with a crisp minerally finish. Fine textures due to whole-bunch inclusion at pressing, generate an elegant umami that matches the finesse of fruit and the delicacy of oak. Creamy yeast-lees chime in with savoury textural hints of yoghurt and cashew, and these elemental signatures will enrich the main flavours with plush roundness as the wine matures and softens.

 This vineyard has excellent pedigree and potential. This 2019 Chardonnay will last for many years and show at its best from 2025 and onwards. If drinking now please allow time in the glass, or decant, and enjoy.

Drink: Now to 2030

150 dozen made.

James Halliday 94 points

Technical Data

Alcohol: 12.5%

pH:        3.22

TA:         6.1

The Family Collection

2019 The Kester Shiraz

Variety:     Shiraz (99%)  Viognier (1%)
Region:     Hunter Valley, single heritage listed vineyard
Vine Age:  Planted on own roots in 1923

Tasting Notes

This Vintage can flex its muscles – it has power and polish, depth and grip with terrific focus.

Colour is vivid red / black with a deep scarlet hue.

Heady aromas of jaffa and orange blossom over deeper concentrated blackcurrant, cola, anise and blackberry. Lifted hints of juniper and crushed herb build as the wine breathes.

Black-fruits dominate the palate with lashings of inky dense, muscular black-currant and black-cherry, over a liquorice-like sweetness balancing rich black-chocolate dryness and a black-olivine savouriness. This foundation is firmly bonded and taut, lasting, with all parts contributing an iron-clad assertion. Exotic expression with luxuriant waves of fine oak delivering fume` spices and subtle roast-coffee-like extract.
The 2019 Vintage Kester shows the result of 3 year of continual drought: it is inky and firm, latent, intense, and deep with terrific promise and pedigree.

Drink: Now to 2040+

Technical Data

Alcohol: 14.3%
pH: 3.5

FIELD OF MARS - Single Vineyard Range                            

Field of Mars Semillon Block 2a 2017

Variety:   100% Semillon

Region:    Pokolbin, Hunter Valley

Vineyard: Keith Tulloch Field of Mars Vineyard

Vine age: Vines planted in 1968

Tasting Note 

This tiny 0.25 hectare Block 2a vineyard planted in 1968, is a real treasure - year-on-year these Semillon vines produce exceptional varietal expression. The deep alluvial sand is key to preserving the grape's elegance and intensity, also enabling the juice to hold a natural core freshness, low pH and bright acidity.

Vintage: Summer weather was stable, hot and dry, with good soil moisture in the deep sands of this old silty riverbed. The tiny old-vine block was hand harvested slightly later than usual on 24th January.

Aromas are tightly wound and intense: Meyer-lemon and golden-apple, hints of fine green-herb, citrus-curd with zesty freshness.

The palate flavours are concentrated with tightly-coiled juiciness: green and yellow citrus flavours with classic zest intensity and bright energy, line and length lifted by delicious juicy acidity. A slightly chalky, minerally lip-smacking mix giving perfect youthful balance with potential for long term cellaring.

Drink: Now - 2036+

Limited Release - only 162 dozen made.

James Halliday 96 points, Huon Hooke 96 points
 

162 dozen made
       

Technical Data
Alcohol:   10.4%
pH             3.01
TA             6.6

The Family Collection

2017 The Doctor Shiraz

I’m proud that we can create a wine that honours my father’s incredible lifetime of work in the Australian wine industry as a renowned viticulturist and PhD. Throughout my life, Harry has been my teacher. 

In exceptional red vintages, I taste through the best barrels of Hunter Valley Shiraz with Harry. His favourite barrels are kept aside, blended and bottled in extremely limited quantities. In a way, this wine is more his taste than mine - a bold, rich expression of Hunter Shiraz more atuned to the old school than the new school, but brimming with quality.

Tasting Note

This Shiraz is the most lavish and concentrated wine that we produce. It’s a wine that explodes out of the glass with descriptors for colour, aroma and palate that are inseparable. .

Simmering and bold, ripe and dense fruit flavours; blackberry, blueberry and liquorice. There are notes of cranberry, orange, spice and dark chocolate, supported by the grainy espresso-like tannins in equal parts from low-yielding fruit and fine French oak. The Doctor 2017 really stamps its authority as the mouthful fades – instead of diminishing or finishing there is a persistent hum of bright fruit flavour, leading one taste into the next in seemingly never-ending waves of cascading and evolving Shiraz fruit complexity.

Drink : Now to 2040

James Halliday 96 points, Huon Hooke 96 points

Technical Data

Alcohol 15%